What the combined wealth of Philippines' 12 richest men tells us
MANILA, Philippines (Originally published on March 8, 2018) — Just how rich are the Filipino tycoons that made it to Forbes magazines’ “three-comma club” for 2018?
Forbes recently released its 2018 World's Billionaires List, which was dominated by tech and software founders.
Twelve Filipinos were included in the global rankings this year, led by 93-year-old shopping mogul Henry Sy, with his $20 billion net worth.
Altogether they are worth $55.3 billion (P2.86 trillion), a sum roughly equivalent to 18 percent of the Philippines’ annual economic output in 2016 based on World Bank’s data.
Their combined fortunes also make up about 75 percent of the government’s record $72.439 billion (P3.77-trillion) national budget.
Using the current level of debt burden as a share of this year’s budget, the 12 Filipino billionaires’ total wealth can cover about 7 years’ worth of payments for the national government’s foreign obligations.
Their aggregate net worth can also fund around 30 percent of President Rodrigo Duterte’s $180 billion (P8.44 trillion) “Build, Build, Build” program, an ambitious plan that aims to upgrade the country’s dilapidated infrastructure and aging ports.
“The gap between the really rich and the merely rich continues to widen, as fortunes soar to new heights,” Forbes said.
According to a 2017 report by Credit Suisse, only 0.1 percent of the Philippines' adult population have fortunes amounting to over $1 million (P52 million).
On the other hand, 86.6 percent of Filipino adults has wealth worth below $10,000 (P520,000).
The Swiss bank also found that population rise in the Philippines outpaced wealth growth last year, with the country's mean wealth per adult falling to $9,773 (P508,000) in 2017 from 2016's $9,878 (P514,000).
According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority released in 2016, an average Filipino family earned 267,000 a year and spent P215,000 annually. This leaves them with an average annual savings of P52,000.
It also said that about 41.9 percent of an average family's annual spending was on food.
"In 2015, about 41.9 percent of the total annual family expenditures was spent on food. For families in the bottom 30 percent income group, the percentage was much higher at 59.7 percent, while for families in the upper 70 percent income group, it was 38.8 percent," the PSA said. — Infographic by Jonathan Asuncion
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